The fact that the National Transportation Safety Board has said that it will take a year and a half to issue a probable cause finding for the derailment and crash is outrageous, Blumenthal told WCBS 880 Connecticut Bureau Chief Fran Schneidau.

In the case of the worker killed, a Metro-North spokeswoman said a student traffic controller and his supervisor were suspended without pay.

Marjorie Anders said Tuesday the suspensions are pending the outcome of a NTSB investigation.

The NTSB, which is still investigating, urged the railroad on Monday to provide backup protection for track maintenance crews who now depend on train dispatchers.

The NTSB said 52-year-old foreman Robert Luden had requested the track section be taken out of service for maintenance. That was done, but the NTSB said it was placed back in service too soon by a student traffic controller who didn’t have the required approval.

Metro-North said it was upgrading its notification system so that the responsibilty for putting a track work area back into service lies directly with the foreman at the scene and is not done remotely by traffic controllers in New York.